AN- Babysitting is in full swing… and I didn't totally proof this, LOL! I hope it's not too bad. Looking forward to your reviews!

Chapter 25 – The Fun Part

Booth was surprised by the butterflies in his stomach as Angela turned the minivan into the entrance of their new neighborhood. He didn't notice that she didn't stop at the guard stand, but breezed through the electronically activated "resident" lane. He squeezed his wife's hand slightly and she leaned over to place a sweet kiss against his lips.

"Welcome home, Booth," she whispered as the vehicle turned into their driveway.

"Welcome home, Bones," he replied, leaning in to kiss her. "This is it."

They climbed out of the Siena and followed Angela and Hodgins to the edge of the sidewalk.

"You guys should go first," Angela said, her earlier sheepishness returning.

"Thanks, Ange," Booth said warmly, reaching out to squeeze her hand. He then turned to his wife, "Ready, Bones?"

She nodded back at him, reaching in to her bag for the key.

"Let me," he said. He reached into his pocket and took out his own keys. He took his wife's hand in his left and together, they walked up to the front door of their new home. He placed the key in the lock and opened the door.

Before Brennan could step forward to walk into the house, Booth had reached over and scooped her up into his arms.

"Booth!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing? Put me down!"

Hodgins and Angela giggled behind them as they watched Brennan struggle.

"No way, Bones," Booth said. "This is one tradition we're keeping. I'm carrying my bride over the threshold."

"Oh Booth," she said. "This is ridiculous. Put me down! Do you even know why you're doing this? The tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold has its roots in several different cultures. In most of them, the tradition began because the bride was either being kidnapped or was reluctant to give herself to her husband…"

"Sounds about right to me," Hodgins muttered under his breath, receiving an elbow from his own bride.

"… and since our marriage was essentially my idea and I am by no means a virgin…"

"All right, all right," Booth said. "Enough! I get it."

He set his wife down on her feet in the foyer and leaned down to kiss her. This kiss was deeper than the gentle kisses they shared in the van, but still appropriate for the fact that they weren't alone.

As the kiss ended, they made their way into their home hand-in-hand. It was beautiful, but it didn't quite feel like home, at least not to Booth. Bones and Angela had done a great job of choosing paint colors and furniture, and the place looked like it could be featured in a magazine… but it felt like something was missing.

Because it was.

It was in that moment that Booth realized what Angela had meant when she said they'd just done the heavy lifting. They'd moved in the furniture and emptied the boxes… but the place they'd set up could belong to anyone. It was up to him and Bones to make it their own.

"Angela, I love you," he said, turning around to pull the artist into a hug.

As he released her, he turned back to take his wife in his arms, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"This is perfect," he said, leaning in to kiss Brennan's temple. "They did the work, but we get to have the fun."

Brennan looked at him skeptically, as if she weren't quite sure what he was talking about.

"Bones," he said, reading her expression. "This place is beautiful. You have great taste, and Angela did a great job following your instructions, but as gorgeous as this place is, does it feel like home to you?"

"No," she admitted, "not really."

"Exactly," he answered. "And do you know why?"

She shook her head.

"Because all this stuff is nice, but it's not ours…"

"It is ours," she began to argue, until she was stopped by her husband's forefinger meeting her lips.

"I know we bought it, baby," he said. "But we haven't used it yet… it's not personal. We need to add our stuff. Your artifacts… my memorabilia… pictures… Parker's drawings… you know, the stuff that makes a house a home."

Following his line of thinking, a wide smile graced her face.

"And that's the fun part," she said.

"You got it," he answered, leaning in for a kiss.

As they walked through the main floor of the house, Angela was torn between her excitement-wanting to show them everything she'd done, and seeing the intimacy of the situation and wanting to leave her friends alone.

Finally, intimacy won out… but not before one last stop.

"Hey guys," Angela said. "We're going to leave you to explore on your own, but there is one thing that I wanted to show you first. If you will follow me…"

Booth, Brennan and Hodgins turned to follow as Angela opened the door that led to the lower level.

"Oh god," Booth said ominously but with a smile on his face. "Ange, please tell me you didn't girly-up my man room."

"Oh I did," Angela said, laughing. "I think you're gonna love the pink plush sofa."

"She wouldn't," Booth whispered toward his wife's ear. "Would she?"

"I don't think so," Brennan answered in earnest. "She said she followed the plan to the letter, and I did not request pink anything for that particular room. In fact," she said. "I don't think there is anything pink in the entire house."

Angela stopped the group about halfway down the stairs.

"Booth," she said. "Close your eyes. Bren, make sure he doesn't peek."

"I'll fall down the stairs," Booth said, laughing as Brennan covered his eyes with her hand.

"Just hold on to Brennan," Angela said, "and Jack will help guide you."

Angela bit her lip as she led the others into the room. When they were finally in the middle of the room, standing in front of the black leather sofa and facing the movie-theatre sized LED TV she nodded to Brennan who removed her hand from her husband's eyes.

"Okay Booth," Angela said, holding her breath. "Open your eyes."

"Oh. My. God," Booth said, his mouth gaping open. "I've died and gone to heaven." He leaned over and whispered in his wife's ear, "This room definitely gets christened first."

They looked around the room and Booth was in awe of the perfect "man cave." The whole room was dark with chrome accents. The walls were painted a deep charcoal and covered with black theater curtains that hid a massive surround-sound system. The Berber carpet was in shades of grey and the furniture was black. The lighting was recessed, but there were several chrome floor lamps around the room.

Almost hidden from view were recessed areas on each side of the television that housed both a DVD and a Blu-Ray player, the satellite TV receiver and DVR, Xbox, PS3, and Wii gaming systems and a state-of-the-art stereo system with CD changer, Sirius radio and an iPod dock.

Booth was speechless as he walked around toward the bar area. The regulation pool table was gorgeous with its red felt top and it sat next to a Vegas-style poker table. Amid all the dark, masculine splendor, he was struck by the stark white wall behind the bar.

Sensing his confusion, Angela spoke up.

"That's left for personalization," she said. "We thought you might like to have a mural painted there." She paused for a moment, waiting for his reaction. "I could do it, or you could hire someone… I was thinking maybe the Flyers logo…"

Booth was overwhelmed and decidedly "unmanly" tears rimmed his eyes. He was grateful to Angela for putting this together and incredibly touched that his wife had wanted all this for him.

Booth thought the mural was a great idea and he and Angela spent some time making tentative plans as Brennan and Hodgins looked on. They spent a little while longer in the "man room," before going back up to the main floor.

Angela was happy to show them the living and dining rooms and Brennan's office that still needed to be personalized. She had pretty much finished the kitchen and both Booth and Brennan loved what she'd done. Both of them were pretty good cooks and were imagining the meals they would cook, among other things, in the gourmet kitchen.

"Okay…" Angela said, noticing the smoldering looks the other couple was sharing. "On that note, I think it's time for Jack and I to get the heck out of Dodge."

Booth was leaning against the kitchen with his wife standing between his legs in front of him. She leaned against his back and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Thanks, Ange," he said. "For everything. I mean it. I know I was kind of an ass earlier… but we really appreciate everything you did."

"You're welcome, big guy," she answered. "And I understand why you two were disappointed. But I think you'll find that we left you the fun part."

"Yes," Brennan said, addressing her friend, but not leaving her husband's embrace. "Thank you, Angela… and you too, Jack."

"You're welcome," Jack replied. "I gotta tell ya, it was hard trying to keep her reined in. Angie's right, though. I think it's time we took off."

The friends said their goodbyes and Brennan and Booth walked Jack and Angela out. They stood in the doorway and watched them pull the van out of the driveway.

After Jack and Angela had gone, Booth and Brennan made their way upstairs. They checked in on the guest rooms which were beautifully appointed. Booth took a deep breath as they stood outside of Parker's room. His wife wrapped herself around his arm in a reassuring gesture as he reached in and flipped on the light.

"This is awesome, Bones," he said. "Parks is gonna love it."

The room was perfect for the pre-teen. The furniture was solid, made of a dark wood. The desk with matching built-in shelves lined one wall. There was a small plasma screen TV mounted above the chest of drawers opposite the bed. The room had been painted a shade of blue that would lend itself easily to a Phillies theme, but didn't necessitate such. Booth's first thought was that, like the rest of the house that he'd seen, it was showroom beautiful but it seemed to lack the warmth of "home."

That was when he noticed several boxes piled at the foot of the bed. They were each labeled "Parker's Room" in Angela's flowing handwriting. She hadn't opened any of the boxes, and Booth realized what that meant. He was looking forward to sharing Parker's excitement in setting up his room when he came to visit them over the weekend.

"I really liked this furniture," Brennan said quietly. "I thought it was something that would suit him as he grows into a teenager. The color is one that he likes, but we can let him choose his own bedding and decorations…"

"It's perfect, Bones," he said, pulling her to his side and leaning over to kiss her temple as he looked out into his son's room. He was already imagining all the great times they would have in this house. "Just like you."

"I'm far from perfect, Booth," she said. "But I appreciate the sentiment."

Smiling at her reaction and just how far they'd come, Booth turned out the light and led Brennan back out into the hallway. Before going into their room, they stopped at the room next door to it.

The room had been freshly painted in pale yellow above white wainscoting. The room was bare of furniture, but the couple was each imagining it arranged with a white crib and all that goes along with it. Standing in what would be their nursery one day, they couldn't help but be taken back to their conversation several days ago at the cottage in Martha's Vineyard.

"I want to have a baby," Brennan said.

Booth had to steel himself from physically reeling back in shock.

"Baby," he said, taking her hands in his. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said softly. "I've been thinking about it for a while now. Physically," she told him, "there is no reason I should have a problem conceiving…"

"Okay," he said, placing a soft kiss to her lips. "But I have to ask, what about emotionally?"

"I've discussed it with Dr. Delaney," she said, resting her forehead against his chest. "And she said she thinks I'm ready. In fact, she said that we can cut down my sessions to once a month unless I feel I need to see her."

"That's great, baby," he said, kissing her again.

"So, what do you think?" she asked tentatively.

"I think it sounds great," he said somewhat hesitantly. "You know there's nothing I want more than to have a baby with you. I'm looking forward to giving Parker siblings, and to filling that big house of ours with the happy family that neither of us had…"

"…but?"

"But," he said with a long sigh, "honestly, I don't know if now is the right time."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," he said, drawing out the word. "We have so much going on… we're just getting used to living together, we're getting ready to move in to the new house, I'm still on suspension and we really don't know what's going to happen with my job…"

"What do you mean, we don't know what's going to happen? Of course we know what's going to happen. You're going to be reinstated to full duty and we'll get back to normal."

He laughed as he took a step back so he could look at her, while keeping their hands linked.

"Whatever normal is for us, I guess," he said with a smile. "Look," he said, reaching out to stroke her cheek. "I love you, and I love the idea of you having our baby. Let's hold off, at least until I'm back to work…"

"I think that would be an acceptable compromise," she said.

"And just think of the fun we can have practicing," he added with a wink and a smile.

"Our baby is going to be very happy here," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"It is a really happy room," he said. "I like the color."

"I thought it was both warm, and bright at the same time," she said. "And it's gender neutral so we could go ahead and set up a nursery even before we know the sex of the child."

"I think I'm going to really enjoy setting up a house with you, Mrs. Booth," he said with a smile, and what looked suspiciously like tears glistening in his eyes.

"I concur, Agent Booth," she answered, taking him by the hand and leading them into the room next door.

When they entered the master bedroom, Booth squeezed his wife's hand. The room was really gorgeous and a blend of both of their styles. The furniture they had picked out together, wanting their bed in their new home to be one that they had chosen as a couple. It was the bed that they would share as a married couple, the bed where they would build their family. They wanted it to be a bed that neither had shared with anyone else.

It was a four-poster with sleek lines and was made of a deep, dark teak. The walls were painted a soft mocha color and the carpet was a dark espresso . Brennan had chosen linens in shades of espresso and pale teal, but they were not on the bed. She knew she would find them on the shelves of the linen closet along with the towels in coffee tones that were purchased for the en-suite bathroom.

At the foot of the bed lay the boxes labeled, "Master Bedroom." Together, they began to open the boxes and find the perfect places for all of their things.

After a few hours, everything was in its place and the bed was made. Booth had taken the empty boxes down to the garage and when he returned, he stopped in the doorway, looking on as his wife stood in the middle of the room, taking it all in. It was a beautiful sight, and as they both looked around at the pictures hanging on the walls, the knickknacks on the shelves and other surfaces, their things mingled together the way they should be… for the first time, Booth actually felt at home. In this one room, they had created a sanctuary for the two of them and he knew that in the coming days, together they would create a haven in the rest of their home.